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General => Contests => NWDA 2015 Theme Challenge - Iceland => Topic started by: Gannaingh on November 11, 2014, 08:09:39 AM

Title: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: Gannaingh on November 11, 2014, 08:09:39 AM
I've got to get in on this contest. Terragen has been calling my name, and this is the perfect lure to drag my busy ass back in. For starters I've mostly been exploring POV's that could be interesting. This is the first one, but there's no guarantee that it'll be the last one standing for my entry.

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: Tangled-Universe on November 11, 2014, 08:43:47 AM
Very nice start already :)
The water looks good and so does the base terrain.

Do you use a reference or just a picture in your mind after seeing references?
What is your next step for this?

What I find quite typical and probably suitable for this scene, is how "gritty" and rough many surfaces on Iceland look.

Looking forward to see the next iteration!

Martin
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: Gannaingh on November 11, 2014, 04:02:33 PM
Thanks TU!

This view point is actually in Iceland at the coordinates 63.542434,-19.627433 looking North East towards the nearby hills. I got the terrain from bigben's reference material post and I've added some strata and fractal displacement.

My plan is to continue to explore Iceland until I find a viewpoint I really like and then I'll use reference pictures from that location to try and build a realistic scene.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: AP on November 11, 2014, 04:54:33 PM
The colors are quite nice. Good details.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: DannyG on November 12, 2014, 06:03:05 AM
Nice color and terrain. Great start
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: TheBadger on November 16, 2014, 03:52:16 PM
Good to see you back! Nice start too  8)
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: Gannaingh on November 20, 2014, 07:24:01 PM
Finding another POV that I like better is proving difficult, so I've done some tweaking on the current one. I've done some work with the strata, foreground, as well as playing with the sun's position, apparently the old position was physically impossible.

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: Oshyan on November 20, 2014, 09:15:21 PM
Oo, awesome terrain, and texturing is looking quite nice too!

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: zaxxon on November 20, 2014, 10:04:56 PM
Really beautiful terrain sculpting! The ridge line is being developed masterfully.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: TheBadger on November 20, 2014, 10:22:51 PM
Already very crisp! Nice.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: choronr on November 21, 2014, 12:12:06 AM
Exceptionally well done!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: AP on November 21, 2014, 01:30:26 AM
If possible, I would seriously consider creating some nice sedimentary erosion along the low slopes. The strata looks very nice were it is.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: Gannaingh on November 21, 2014, 08:19:03 AM
Thanks everybody!

ChrisC: Excellent idea, I'll have to play around with World Machine to see if I can get some good features.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry
Post by: FrankB on November 25, 2014, 06:37:52 AM
Very nice terrain indeed.

The POV is ok, but perhaps it would provide you with more options if you were looking down at the scene? Just trying to think along.

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V3
Post by: Gannaingh on November 26, 2014, 09:16:05 AM
Thank you, Frank, for your input! When making a scene I often get very focused on my "plan" for the image and get blinded to outside possibilities. Some sort of bird's eye view is something to consider.

I've gotten some erosive effects going from World Machine to give the terrain a more weathered appearance. Right now the fake stones are just confined by slope, but I'm going to mess around with some erosion flow and deposition maps from WM to see if I can get better results. I've also added some land in the foreground since it looked empty with just the water.

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V3
Post by: Dune on November 26, 2014, 12:01:36 PM
Getting better and better.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V3
Post by: inkydigit on December 01, 2014, 07:02:25 PM
The last one has evolved nicely... Looking good....
:)
J
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: Gannaingh on December 04, 2014, 08:48:42 PM
I decided that the atmosphere was lacking any personality and was far too plain for this competition. I've given it some ominous clouds to try and replicate an impending rain storm feel. I've also added more detail and texture to the foreground dirt as a prelude to adding some grass and stones.

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: zaxxon on December 04, 2014, 09:00:34 PM
Ominous indeed! Very, very nice!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: choronr on December 04, 2014, 09:20:26 PM
It is coming alive ...very good.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: TheBadger on December 04, 2014, 10:54:32 PM
 >:( >:( >:( >:( Stop being awesome.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: choronr on December 04, 2014, 11:12:23 PM
Quote from: TheBadger on December 04, 2014, 10:54:32 PM
>:( >:( >:( >:( Stop being awesome.
?
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: Oshyan on December 05, 2014, 12:37:14 AM
Holy crap. Um, well done sir. You are on the right track. :D

Edit: OK, after the initial "wow" I was able to look at it with a more critical eye, hehe. First, I assume you have plans for the relatively uninteresting yet visually notable foreground. So I'll ignore that. The main thing that stands out to me is the density and size of your stones in the distance. If they're that large, they had to come from somewhere and would probably be in greater number, or in a larger flow of stones. As it is it seems like you have stone sizes down to a point, but the large stones are not caught up in a flow or occasionally having rolled away from one, they're kind of isolated in a way. Like you need more scale variation. I think at this distance you could probably make it easier on yourself by just masking a rougher terrain in the same areas as these fake stones, with a smaller scale, and then texture it similarly to the rocks. Kind of a combo of what you have here and some experiments others have been doing with mask generation inside TG (though I guess you probably have WM masks to work with). So yeah, the stones are the main thing that stands out to my eye. Either make them more spare, or *more dense* (the latter I would favor, I think).

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: Dune on December 05, 2014, 02:36:11 AM
I like this ominous look, makes the mountain stand out more. The power here lies in the WM eroded terrain, which is really awesome (wish that could be done procedurally within TG). Curious to see what you'll do with the foreground.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: Hannes on December 05, 2014, 08:15:44 AM
That looks really great already. Agree about the stones. They seem to be a bit out of place.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: TheBadger on December 05, 2014, 01:22:03 PM
Quote from: choronr on December 04, 2014, 11:12:23 PM
Quote from: TheBadger on December 04, 2014, 10:54:32 PM
>:( >:( >:( >:( Stop being awesome.
?

A complement, Bob.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: choronr on December 05, 2014, 04:51:08 PM
Thanks Michael; and, I think I'm ready for a brain transplant.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: AP on December 05, 2014, 08:02:31 PM
Breathless. What plans do you have in the basin?

You might want to think about adding larger stones covered in lichen and moss. A few plants here and there of course. ;) Trees maybe??? The sediment erosion channels should be masked to a color that compliments sediment material to what ever is common in Iceland. That might look neat.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: Oshyan on December 05, 2014, 08:08:14 PM
Yes, exactly Chris. All good suggestions. I would especially like to see some nice larger stones with moss/lichen/etc., that could work well in the foreground. For example this photo I took: https://picasaweb.google.com/104300081531529253719/IcelandPart2#6088427915342847874

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: Gannaingh on December 05, 2014, 08:34:58 PM
Thank you for the comments everybody, there are a lot of good suggestions here! I agree that the stones look out of place at the moment, I'm planning on using flow masks from WM, but getting a nice looking result is proving troublesome; from the camera POV they tend to appear very straight and unnatural, so I'll have to mess with that...maybe even try different erosion seeds. I have plans for isolated patches of trees and shrubbery in the mid/background, but nothing to lush since it is Iceland after all.

Thanks for looking, all!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V4
Post by: Oshyan on December 05, 2014, 08:41:27 PM
Sounds good. Btw we featured your image in a brief update on the contest on social media today. :)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: Gannaingh on December 14, 2014, 12:09:13 PM
More updates! I've done some work with the WM flow mask for the erosion stones, but primarily have been focusing on the foreground shore. Sooner or later I'll get around to working on the mid-ground .
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: Oshyan on December 14, 2014, 08:50:49 PM
Yessss. You are on the right track with the rocks and other adjustments, definitely.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: archonforest on December 15, 2014, 10:43:21 AM
I was thinking that I would participate in the contest with my picture I did but your render killed this idea instantly.  :D
Those rocks...etc are awesome!!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: mhaze on December 15, 2014, 02:26:53 PM
You should make an entry and support the competition and you never know the judges minds.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: TheBadger on December 15, 2014, 02:47:14 PM
Yeah, People do better than they think they do. We are all to hard on our selves sometimes.

Getting better and better Darth.
Fun to watch. Sometimes its better to se these develop in parts than to get one finished image. Can enjoy it longer this way :D
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: Kadri on December 15, 2014, 03:10:00 PM

I like the groundwork.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: DannyG on December 15, 2014, 07:10:42 PM
Looking good, real good ^^
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: choronr on December 15, 2014, 07:48:27 PM
Very good progress so far.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: Dune on December 16, 2014, 02:46:33 AM
Do go ahead with the contest, Archonforest! It's not all about a photoreality, it's also about the best use of Terragen features, composition, uniqueness, guts, etc. You'll think of something quite different than this excellent work, and still have a chance!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: Gannaingh on December 16, 2014, 09:39:06 AM
Thank you, everybody, for the comments!

Archonforest, I'll echo the other folks encouraging you to give it a go and submit an entry. There's almost two months left before you need to submit your image, so there's plenty of time to come up with something great. I really, really enjoy seeing people's creative process as they work through an image, so I guess my encouragement is partially selfish  ;)
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: archonforest on December 16, 2014, 11:47:59 AM
Quote from: darthvader1 on December 16, 2014, 09:39:06 AM
Archonforest, I'll echo the other folks encouraging you to give it a go and submit an entry. There's almost two months left before you need to submit your image, so there's plenty of time to come up with something great. I really, really enjoy seeing people's creative process as they work through an image, so I guess my encouragement is partially selfish  ;)

Ok I'll send in my Iceland render... :D
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: inkydigit on December 16, 2014, 03:13:26 PM
Quote from: darthvader1 on December 14, 2014, 12:09:13 PM
More updates! I've done some work with the WM flow mask for the erosion stones, but primarily have been focusing on the foreground shore. Sooner or later I'll get around to working on the mid-ground .
Killer.... Superb, looking forward to the next tweaks!
:)
Cheers
J

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: zaxxon on December 17, 2014, 01:42:16 PM
Beautifully crafted WM work, really adds to the TG repertoire. The dramatic lighting works well with the terrain, looking forward to the mid-ground work. A powerful entry!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: mhaze on December 18, 2014, 05:11:48 AM
Yes, superb moody work.  I'm impressed with the quality of your world machine output, mine always seems so much cruder than this.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: Gannaingh on December 19, 2014, 10:38:57 PM
Some small updates: I've toyed with the colors of the rocks, added another population to the foreground grasses, added an initial grass population for the  mid-ground, and most importantly, remembered to turn on ray-traced objects. Thank you for all the kind words so far!

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V6
Post by: choronr on December 19, 2014, 11:12:34 PM
Very good! I've noted on some of the landscape views on the net that there are a lot of bright, yellow/green patches of moss; or, grasses of ground cover on the terrain.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V6
Post by: Dune on December 20, 2014, 06:14:19 AM
Super image! Maybe (but you probably would have in the end) use soft reflections.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V6
Post by: j meyer on December 20, 2014, 10:26:52 AM
Great shot!
I like the colors especially.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V6
Post by: Luc on December 20, 2014, 01:32:17 PM
Very nice, in this iteration background is better nevertheless I prefered middle part of the previous iteration.. because without visible plants the sense of scale was better imho.

luc
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V5
Post by: WAS on December 20, 2014, 02:08:26 PM
Quote from: darthvader1 on December 14, 2014, 12:09:13 PM
More updates! I've done some work with the WM flow mask for the erosion stones, but primarily have been focusing on the foreground shore. Sooner or later I'll get around to working on the mid-ground .

Wow that is amazing. Love the look of this. Very much a iceland look. Can't wait to see the background shore get it's foliage and stuff.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V6
Post by: otakar on December 23, 2014, 12:53:18 PM
Great details there. You can sense that a lot of time has gone into this already.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V6
Post by: gregtee on December 24, 2014, 12:37:06 AM
I love the mountain.  I love the lake.  I love the sky.  I love the palette.  What I don't love is the composition.  The mountain dominates the frame, and while it's awesome I feel like it's crowding out a lot of other potentially good parts of the image.   Every time I look at your render I wonder what this would look like if it breathed a little more.  I don't know if that means a wider lens or just pulling the camera back more.   

Just a thought.  Great work. 
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V6
Post by: ADE on December 26, 2014, 10:34:43 AM
cracking render, I don't stand a chance :P
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V7
Post by: Gannaingh on December 30, 2014, 05:54:02 PM
After much trial and error, and a Christmas break, I've finally gotten some traction on the mid ground vegetation. Some of the plant populations are still too large, so I'll have to adjust some scaling issues. I've also included soft reflections on the water which makes for quite a nice improvement on the water surface. The noisy water was getting on my nerves so I'm glad to be rid of it. I also need to add something in the foreground, like an interesting rock or bush to spice up the "blandness" of the grass. Good thing there's still time left!

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement on this project!



Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V7
Post by: Oshyan on December 30, 2014, 06:21:53 PM
Better and better all the time. :)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V7
Post by: choronr on December 30, 2014, 06:34:38 PM
This is evolving beautifully!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V7
Post by: inkydigit on December 30, 2014, 07:51:43 PM
Near perfect... Loving the mood and the colours especially here!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V7
Post by: DannyG on January 04, 2015, 03:08:46 PM
Surface and light are topshelf Jeff. Really coming along nicely
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V7
Post by: Hannes on January 06, 2015, 12:07:25 PM
What an improvement!!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: Gannaingh on January 07, 2015, 10:44:12 AM
More updates! I've primarily been working on the lighting and atmosphere of the scene. I added a low level cloud layer for atmospheric haze to make the distant mountain on the left seem more shrouded by the overhead clouds. I've also worked to make the atmosphere more blue to give better depth of color. I also added two more shrub populations and a grass population to the mid-ground to give more variety, but the grass isn't really noticeable at a realistic scale so I might remove it. Thanks for watching me work!

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: Hannes on January 07, 2015, 11:10:55 AM
This is really looking great! But I think there isn't enough haze or mist in the air, which makes the scene look smaller imho. The mountains look quite close to the viewer like that.
The clouds are fantastic, and at least in my opinion some haze, mist or fog would make the scene look even more epic.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: choronr on January 07, 2015, 11:20:05 AM
This is coming together beautifully.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: Dune on January 07, 2015, 11:43:04 AM
You are making it hard for other contestants, though you never know who is secretly brewing something  ;)
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: RArcher on January 07, 2015, 02:01:15 PM
Really lovely surfacing, details and atmosphere.  I keep hoping that you will push the dominating mountain further into the background or find an alternate point-of-view and really open the scene up with a great vista.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: choronr on January 07, 2015, 02:16:33 PM
I agree with Ryan. A better balanced point of view might be needed.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: Oshyan on January 07, 2015, 04:55:27 PM
Yes, I think a greater sense of scale and distance is needed. But the existing work that's there is fantastic. Highly realistic surfacing, populations, sky, etc. I think you can keep pushing your base realism like this and then maybe finalize your PoV a little later and fine-tune for that specific viewpoint. But if you want to really optimize around the PoV the whole time you'll want to make sure this is how you want the view to be for the final ASAP. I think a change of PoV might be good, but adding mist, etc. might also help enough with the sense of scale, there isn't necessarily one right answer.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: Gannaingh on January 07, 2015, 06:07:11 PM
Changing the POV is worrisome to me primarily because there isn't very much interesting scenery outside the current FOV. ON the right there is an empty plane that stretches for miles and on the left the background mountain just kinda exists without looking overly interesting. I'll whip up a quick panorama of the area tonight.

I have a separate version of the file with only the base terrain dedicated to finding a more interesting POV, but I haven't been successful yet. In lieu of that I've been exploring the route that Oshyan suggested of optimizing all the shaders, objects, etc. and then incorporating a better POV when/if I find one.

That you for the constructive criticism, it is really helpful with forcing me to push boundaries that I wouldn't think of myself!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: gregtee on January 08, 2015, 10:07:57 AM
This was my earlier crit.  I really like and appreciate the overall work done, but the composition doesn't really do anything for me.  It feels like a crop in of a much larger frame. 
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: TheBadger on January 08, 2015, 10:49:35 AM
I also want to encourage you to alter the frame.

And, is it just my monitor or has the image gotten much darker? (I hate this monitor, I am never sure of what I see). It looks to me that it got darker and more saturated. But rather than more color being added it looks like the color was altered in post... I think its not helping.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: j meyer on January 08, 2015, 12:21:45 PM
I for one like the scene and pov as it is.
Personally I would add maybe a rock or so to the foreground
and something like a house or some animal or whatever to the
opposite side of the water to have some point of interest the
eye can go to.Just my two cents.
Keep it up!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: Gannaingh on January 20, 2015, 08:17:44 PM
No luck yet finding a better scene or POV. The big problem seems to be that my entire setup is based around a scene built at this particular distance from the main focus, aka the mountain, and that most of the other potential vistas do not look nearly as good due to scaling issues. Since the deadline is approaching I'm probably going to stick with the current POV with some minor alterations. I'm increasing the FOV and turning the camera a bit to the left to show more background mountains and to give the scene better rule of thirds proportions.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: otakar on January 21, 2015, 12:00:58 PM
Gulp! This is amazing. Since I enjoy looking at mountains, this POV seems just fine to me, but then again, I have no vote :) The details and variety you managed to get into this scene are exemplary. I would probably have the same issue, lots of the masking and surfacing (and populations) are dependent on what area the camera covers, once you move that there are many adjustments necessary. But you still have time given that you are already at this stage in the project.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: Tangled-Universe on January 21, 2015, 06:20:09 PM
Nice work so far, to say the least :)

I think the sense of scale would improve of smaller wave size and also some wind patches for added realism and interest.

What I also like about a lot of Icelandic scenes is the variation in colours. There's quite nice variation now with all the greens, but perhaps some more yellows or (gold) browns may work.
Difficult to explain, perhaps I should post an example.
Edit: Thinking about this part. I think there's actually too much coverage of the greens. How does it look when there's more exposed rock and grit and stones?

Another suggestion is to make more use of the erosion patterns and their masks to do interesting things with terrain details and shading.
Is it WM erosion or TG erosion?
If it's TG erosion then you can duplicate the erosion node and set the mode to "difference (erosion field)" to extract a mask from the erosion.
If you're a nerd like me ;) you can also perform a subtraction of the displacement before and after erosion and derive the mask procedurally, allowing you to only deal with one erosion node. /nerd

Quote from: darthvader1 on January 20, 2015, 08:17:44 PM
No luck yet finding a better scene or POV. The big problem seems to be that my entire setup is based around a scene built at this particular distance from the main focus, aka the mountain, and that most of the other potential vistas do not look nearly as good due to scaling issues. Since the deadline is approaching I'm probably going to stick with the current POV with some minor alterations. I'm increasing the FOV and turning the camera a bit to the left to show more background mountains and to give the scene better rule of thirds proportions.

I often have the feeling, totally lacking any evidence, that many people use the default camera focal length and only move the camera around.
There's a lot you can do for sense of scale with camera focal length.
So perhaps there are possibilities you haven't considered yet, or may be you did?
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V8
Post by: Gannaingh on January 21, 2015, 10:09:04 PM
Martin, thank you for your input!

The water could certainly use some attention since I've been largely ignoring it recently. Some  wind patchiness could be a nice touch. Surprisingly, the surface shaders aren't "green" they're all browns and have RGB values with higher levels of red than green.

I've come to the conclusion that the green is enhanced by the blue of the atmosphere making the greens overpower the reds and browns. Some experimentation could be in order on that front. I could do some work to make the greens and object populations more patchy / restrict their slope, but in my initial tests in reduced the prominence of the strata so I kept it at the current levels.

The erosion is from WM and is currently being experimented with ,aka I have that file open as I type, and I hope to achieve...different results, more flow and less straightness in the erosion channels.

I've experimented with an ok variety of focal lengths ranging from about 30 to 65ish mm. One of my personal flaws in terragen is that I have a noticeable tendency to stick the camera at my eye level as if I were taking a picture while standing. Some more interesting camera placement could be in order ;).


Also, here is the latest render fresh off the hard drive. There is a curious anomaly along the far mountains which is caused by the thick cloud layer. It is at what, at least mathematically, should be the lower boundary of the cloud layer but I have no idea why it wasn't visible before or any idea on what is causing it. So much to do!

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V9
Post by: kalwalt on January 28, 2015, 08:55:57 AM
i love this image! congrats :D
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V9
Post by: TheBadger on January 28, 2015, 01:27:29 PM
Its a good one. Was good since the start. The grass in the foreground now looks much nicer to me.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: Gannaingh on February 02, 2015, 07:42:32 PM
I had a bit of a mid-contest crisis and decided that I really didn't like the whole atmosphere of the scene. I felt that the dark oppressiveness of the clouds didn't fit very well with the brightly lit foreground which, I think, contributed to the lack of a large sense of scale in the image. I've spent the last week or so trying to get better results and I think I've found something that works. Instead of oppressive doom clouds, it has the feel of fog and low level clouds being burned off by the sun. With the deadline approaching I better not think up too many more major changes ;)

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: choronr on February 02, 2015, 08:11:05 PM
Looking back at the previous image, the mountain looked as it had more brightness and highlights.Bit this current one has much better clouds. Sometimes working TG is bringing together compromises.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: Dune on February 03, 2015, 03:38:56 AM
I preferred the previous setup.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: bla bla 2 on February 03, 2015, 04:06:09 AM
Me too
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: mhaze on February 03, 2015, 05:31:33 AM
I prefer this one, much more realistic, but only if you include the previous foreground.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: oysteroid on February 03, 2015, 05:55:03 PM
I really like the scene! But I've got to say that I definitely prefer the darker atmosphere you had previously. It was more moody. And there was more contrast between the light on the land and the dark clouds, giving the image some drama. In fact, when I first saw what you were doing, my immediate "like" response was clearly connected to the darker mood and drama. But I tend to like somewhat dark imagery anyway. Other responses are certainly valid. By all means though, do what you like most!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: Gannaingh on February 03, 2015, 08:10:50 PM
Thank you, all, for your comments. Choosing to go away from the darker atmosphere was a difficult choice, but I feel that the image is ultimately better for it. I plan on adding some additional layering to the clouds which might give improved depth and additional variety.

Here is the full scene as it stands now. I'm still not satisfied with the wind effects on the water and I also need to do something interesting with the empty bottom left corner of the image. It's been a fun contest, thanks for all the support along the way!

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: Oshyan on February 03, 2015, 08:21:28 PM
I think seeing the full version allows for a better, more fair comparison. But I do have to say I was also partial to the darker version. Quite possibly that's just because I was there in a darker, bad-weather type season. I do think there are good aspects about both. You've demonstrated your ability as an artist to choose a good path and refine it, so I trust your feelings on the lighter version. I will only say that I felt the rockier foreground of the previous, darker version was perhaps more "Icelandic" in my personal view. Whether that is reflective of reality I don't know, just my personal impression.

Regardless of these critiques, it remains an outstanding scene and a beautiful series of images. Whatever you end up with will be great.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: Zairyn Arsyn on February 04, 2015, 02:06:30 PM
excellent terrain features
i really like you reflections on the water.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: ADE on February 05, 2015, 10:49:18 AM
previous set up.....absolutely fantastic
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: Artby on February 05, 2015, 03:38:09 PM
Whatever lighting/sky you will choose at the end, this is a very beautiful work !
On the latest version I am truly amazed by the far mountain on the left. My only critic would be about the image itself. It was definitely an improvement to pan the camera to the left, but I am sure it could be even better. Anyway, this is technically excellent!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: inkydigit on February 09, 2015, 12:38:20 PM
 8)
super detailing here, I too love the reflections, really great terrain too!
good luck with the next ones
J
:)
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - V10
Post by: TheBadger on February 09, 2015, 04:27:27 PM
It is most definitely rich and fantastical, just like most of the real photos I have seen from Iceland. I do like it a lot. Hope I can get this kind of detail in on mine!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: Gannaingh on February 13, 2015, 07:32:41 PM
Here is my final entry for the contest. It's been a long road getting here, and my computer deserves a nice long break for his countless hours of rendering. Thank you, all, for your help along the way and for taking the time to follow my progress. Good luck, fellow contestants!

Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: choronr on February 13, 2015, 07:57:19 PM
And, good luck to you ...this is very good.
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: Oshyan on February 14, 2015, 02:56:02 AM
Really a beautiful end result. On one of my monitors it's a bit dark, but on the other it's perfect. :)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: Dune on February 14, 2015, 03:19:16 AM
This will be a tough judgement, seeing what's being showed here until now. Looks terrific!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: inkydigit on February 14, 2015, 09:52:08 AM
Outstanding result, a truly beautiful scene.... Really well detailed... Congrats on this final, also good luck too!
Cheers
Jason
:)
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: kalwalt on February 15, 2015, 06:48:00 AM
I like the mood in this picture and the scene,  was worth the work! :)
Good luck!

Walter
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: oysteroid on February 15, 2015, 01:57:13 PM
This is an outstanding image! I really like your mountain and the way it is lit. The whole atmosphere is nice. And the overall composition works well for me. Great work!
Title: Re: Iceland Contest Entry - Final
Post by: Jo Kariboo on February 16, 2015, 08:39:47 PM
Very nice work !